Commutation railway-ticket.



No. 841,853. PATENTED JAN. 22, 1907.

H. N. DELANO.

OOMMUTATION RAILWAY TICKET.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 10, 1906.

COMMUTATION TICKET CHICAGO AND EVANSTON 5 IODI-QImRIIUIMMmIH UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY DELANO, OF OHIGAGO. ILLINOIS.

COIVIMUTATION RAILWAY-TICKET.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY N. DELANO, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Commutation Railway- Tickets; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to what are commonly known as commutation-tickets, such as are usually'employed as railroad-tickets, but which may be used for other purposes, such as restaurant mealtickets, &c.

Tickets of the class to which my invention relates are provided along one or more of their edges with a series of spaces bearing a series of numbers and which are adapted to be successively removed or cut off by a suitable ticket-punch having punching dies or jaws of such size and shape as to entirely re-v move one of the numbered spaces at each op eration of the punch. The numbered spaces are designed to be removed in regular order of progress along the edge of the ticket, be-

ginning at one corner of the same, and in order to insure the removal. of only one of the numbered spaces at each operation of the punch the punch is provided at one side of its dies with a stop adapted for contact with the side edge of the numbered space to be removed and which determines the position of the punch in each operation, so that it canin no case remove a piece wider than a single numbered space. Such a stop on the punch prevents the accidental removal of more than one of the numbered spaces at one operation of the punch, but it does not prevent the re moval of a part of the margin of the ticket equal in width to less than the full width of a numbered space in the operation of the punch, so that if the conductor carelessly applies the punch to the ticket he will often remove a piece narrower than the full width of the nume bered space, and when this is done it will be then impossible to remove the next succeeding space in its entirety at the next operation of the punch, since the contact of the stop of the punch with the edge of the partially-re moved preceding numbered space will prevent the punch from covering and removing the next numbered space in its entirety. As a consequence of these conditions in the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 10, 1906. Serial No. 300,506.

Patented Jan. 22, 190 7.

punching of a commutation-ticket as usually constructed the successive operations of the punchwill bring the transverse edge formed by cutting the pieces from the edges of the ticket at gradually-increasing distances from the lines'of division between the numbered spaces, so that finally there will remain upon the ticket such a wide piece or remnant of the numbered space intended to be removed as to amount substantially to another numbered space, which will give the holder of the ticket a ride or rides additional to the number for which the ticket was intended to provide.

The object of the invention is to so construct the marginal part of the ticket and arrange the numbered space thereon that any loss to the railway company or person selling the ticket in the manner above set forth may be avoided, and to this end a railway-ticket embodying my invention is provided in its numbered margins with one or more notches, dividing the row ofnumbered spaces into groups, each of which include only a few numbered spacessay four or five-the number of numbered spaces in each group being so small that in the operations of cutting or punching the numbered spaces from each group the accumulated error arising in the several operations can in no case leave more than a small part or fragment of the last numbered space of the group, which part or fragment Will be so small that it could not possibly be claimed by the holder of the ticket as constituting a full space. In the use of a ticket thus constructed the numbered spaces in the several groups will be removed in succession, and if after the punching of all of the numbered spaces in one of the groups a small part of the numbered space at one end of the group remains this will be disregarded by the conductor, who, in removing the numbered spaces in the next group will begin anew at the advance edge of the notch separating a succeeding group from a preceding one which has been removed.

The invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawing, showing a railway-ticket embodying a preferred form of my invention.

As shown in the said drawing, A indicates the body of the ticket, which has the form of a twenty-five-ride ticket and which is provided along its right-hand end and along its bottom edge with twenty-four spaces numbered successively from one to twenty-four,

ITO

beginning at the upper right-hand corner of the ticket. The auditors stub usually form ing an extension of the left-hand end of the ticket and which is used in payment for the first ride has been removed from the ticket shown in the drawing and has no relation to my invention.

In the end margin of the ticket, preferably at a central point in said end margin, is formed a notch a, and in its lower edge are formed two notches a a Said notches a a a are preferably made about the same width as the numbered spaces of the ticket. The

notch a at the end of the ticket separates the numbered s aces thereon into two groups of five each, w fiile the two notches a a in the bottom margin of the ticket separates the numbered spaces thereon into three groups, one contaimng four numbered spaces and the other two each containing five numbered spaces.

In using the ticket made as illustrated the conductor will punch or cut from the margins of the ticket the numbered spaces in succession, beginning at one corner of the ticket in the usual manner. If a narrow piece or section of the fourth or fifth numbered space, adjacent to the notch toward which the cutting or removal progresses, be left on the ticket, no attention will be paid thereto by the conductor, who, in beginning on the second group of numbered spaces, will have as a guide or starting-point for the stop upon the punch the edge of the notch which forms a beginning of' the second grou of spaces. The principle of operation will e the same in removing the numbered spaces in each of the several groups, the side edge of the notch separating the groups in each instance forming a new startingpoint for the removal of the spaces constituting said group.

The particular number of spaces representing rides or anything else of value in the several groups of such spaces may be varied without departure from my invention, the essential feature of which consists in the separation of the numbered spaces .on any one edge of a ticket in two or more groups by means of one or more notches on said edge.

I claim as my invention A commutation-ticket provided along its margin with a plurality of spaces of equal width and having a portion of its said margin removed at one or more places to form one or more notches dividing the said spaces into two or more groups; said value-lndicating spaces bearing a series of numbers arranged successively in regular order.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I afiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 6th day of February,

l HARRY N. DELANO.

Witnesses:

O. CLARENCE PooLE, G. R. WILKINS. 

